NHL: Stars are Presenting Lots of Talent to The Table by Caden Balint
We are halfway through the NHL season, and some big name players are coming out of nowhere and are now being noticed by everyone in the league. I am here to name these players and some of their stats coming into the halfway mark of the NHL season.
Let’s start with some forwards who have had a key effect on their team’s performance. Edmonton Oilers first liner Patrick Maroon. He was expected to fill the fourth line for the Oilers coming into the season, just to fill in some space for any injured forwards. Now, 42 games into the season, Maroon is playing first line with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. He is managing 16 goals 7 assists and a 14 in his plus/minus column. This makes Maroon a great candidate for the Vegas Golden Knights, if he is not protected. In his career, Maroon was drafted in 2007. He was the 161st pick of the Philadelphia Flyers. Right now the Oilers are 21-14-7, 3rd in the Pacific Division and 10th in the league. This is the Oilers best season since their last Stanley Cup run and win in the 1990’s. Now let’s look at the New York Rangers 2nd line forward, Michael Grabner. The Rangers signed Grabner in the offseason to a 1-year deal. He was most likely, supposed to be a 3rd or 4th line forward, not someone expected to crush the first part of the season, which is exactly what Grabner is doing. He has 18 goals and 8 assists with a 22 in his plus/minus column. Grabner scored 3 goals against the Columbus Blue Jackets on January 7th, 2017 including the game winning goal with 16.5 seconds left in the 3rd period. Grabner was drafted by the Vancouver Canucks in the 1st round 14th pick in 2006. The Rangers are 28-13-1 this season, they are 3rd in the Metropolitan Division and 3rd in the league. The last forward who has come out of nowhere is Mitchell Marner. He was drafted high at 1st round 4th pick in 2015 by the Toronto Maple Leafs. He was in the darkness under rookie superstar Auston Matthews coming into this year. Now Marner has 10 goals and 22 assists with a -5 in his plus/minus column this year. Matthews has only 21 goals and 14 assists with a 4 in his plus/minus column. Right now Matthews leads out of these 2 rookies by only 3 points. The Maple Leafs are 18-13-8, they are 4th in the Atlantic Division and 16th in the league. Later on in the years of the NHL, we will see some big stars around the league. Now onto defensemen.
Some defensemen that have come out of nowhere and they are having a big affect on their team's performance are Zach Werenski. Werenski was drafted by the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2015, 1st round 8th pick. Werenski is playing the 1st defensive line paring for the Jackets. Werenski is at 6 goals, 19 assists and he has a 6 in his plus/minus column. Another defenseman who has exploded is Adam Larson. In the offseason Adam Larsson was traded to the Oilers for Taylor Hall who went to the Devils. You would expect that Larsson, who came out of a team who is not known for defense, he would not be good on defense. On the contrary, Larsson came into this season on to a so-called “bad team” Larsson is at 2 goals 5 assists with a 0 in his plus/minus column. Larsson is playing 3rd line defensive pairing for the Oilers. Larsson was drafted 1st round 4th overall in the 2000 draft pick. Now onto goalies.
One goalie who has been killing it this season is Columbus Blue Jackets netminder Sergei Bobrovsky. Bobrovsky has been killing the first part of the season playing 34 games, winning 26 and losing only 8 of them, 2 in overtime. He also had 3 shutouts this year. He is managing only 2.00 goals against and a .931 save percentage through this span. Sergei has only one Vezina Trophy under his belt through his 6 years in the NHL. Sergei was an undrafted player, until the Philadelphia Flyers signed him, he was then traded to the Jackets in 2012 for 3 draft picks. Right now the Blue Jackets are the best team in the NHL with a 28-7-4 record. They are first in the Metropolitan Division and first in the league.
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